


Secrets & Lies

by Telaryn



Series: Grifters and Honest Folk [1]
Category: Leverage, White Collar
Genre: Angst, Crossover, Drama, Emotional Baggage, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lies, Secret Relationship, Secrets, Threats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-14
Updated: 2012-05-14
Packaged: 2017-11-24 05:46:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate realizes that she can't keep her past and her present apart forever when her brother Damien summons her for a visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets & Lies

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=angst_bingo)[](http://www.dreamwidth.org/profile?user=angst_bingo)**angst_bingo** 's Round 3, for the prompt "lies".

She hated lying to him, but Kate knew Neal never would have understood. “It’s just a couple of days,” she said reassuringly, meeting his eyes in the mirror as she fixed her hair. “Dana’s going through a rough time right now; she needs somebody she feels comfortable talking to.”

The doubt in his pale eyes was an accusation, but she held firm. This was one area of her life Neal couldn’t be allowed to touch, for his own safety.

“I understand,” he said finally, padding over in his bare feet to stand behind her. “And of course you have to be there for your friend.” Strong arms slipped around her waist, urging her back against his broad, well-formed chest. Kate closed her eyes, relaxing into his embrace. She didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay here and lose herself in the life she was building with Neal. Most of all she wanted to forget about the summons pulling her away, and the man waiting to see her in a downtown luxury hotel.

Ultimately, however, the call of duty was too strong. Packing finished quickly – most of what she currently owned would be deemed unacceptable anyway. _Damien probably has everything I bought last time with him._ “You and Mozzie be good,” she said, shouldering her overnight bag and kissing Neal on the cheek. “Don’t get into trouble.”

He smiled at her. “Not ‘til you get back – I promise.”

Leaving the apartment was like walking from a summer day into winter shade. Kate smiled at the metaphor as she took the stairs to the subway; it was very Neal. _He’s changing you._ The world looked very different through his eyes. Kate felt freer when she was with him, more the kind of person she wanted to be.

 _More of the kind of person Damien despises._ “This is not going to be fun,” she muttered, leaving the train with the press of people and heading to the street.

An elegant black Towne car was waiting at the curb. Kate drew up short when she saw who Damien had sent to collect her. “Hello, Eliot.” _Damn._ She liked her brother’s second in command well enough, but his presence spoke volumes about the kind of mood Damien was likely to be in.

Spencer bowed his head briefly. “Hello, Kate.” His voice was easily the thing she liked best about him when he was on duty – no matter how Damien dressed him up, Eliot had never lost the musical undertones of his accent. _Oklahoma_ she reminded herself, recalling how much it annoyed the man when people assumed he was from Texas.

Before he could remind her, Kate automatically passed him her overnight bag. She’d learned early on there was no point arguing with him when it came to her brother’s safety. Even reminding him that she was Damien Moreau’s little sister, and as such had the least reason of anybody to want him hurt or killed hadn’t swayed him from doing his duty.

In deference to her feelings, however, he finished quickly. Kate took her bag back while Eliot had a quiet word with the bodyguard riding in the front passenger seat, then stepped into the back of the car when he opened the door for her.

“I kind of assumed he’d want me to change first,” she admitted when Eliot slid in beside her. The last time she’d been summoned for a visit, there had been a designer outfit waiting for her in the back of the car.

Eliot leaned forward and knocked twice on the privacy window. Kate smiled slightly when the gap in his jacket showed a glimpse of his shoulder harness – the casual reminder of how far she’d come from that life just added a note of surrealism to the entire setting.

“He’s trying to meet you halfway,” Eliot admitted, settling back in the seat and shifting so they could face each other more comfortably. “To be fair, the ripped jeans weren’t helping.”

Kate felt her cheeks grow warm. She _had_ been trying to provoke Damien on that visit, by showing up in clothes she knew would make him angry. _”You are my sister!”_ he’d screamed – so red in the face even his security staff were fidgeting and wishing they were somewhere else. _”Not some back alley prostitute!”_ She’d spent the next two days on a clothes shopping expedition with her sister-in-law, spending more money in that time than she and Neal would see all year.

“How is Juliana?” she asked finally.

Eliot shrugged; he knew she was only asking out of a sense of duty. Kate and her sister-in-law had never gotten along all that well. They could be civil with each other, but Kate noticed that phrases like “disgrace to the family” tended to get thrown around a lot more when Juliana was there to egg Damien on.

“She decided to stay in Paris this trip,” Eliot said.

Kate chuckled nervously. “No trips to Saks then. That’s a relief.”

They rode in silence for a while, then Eliot said, “You know he’s going to want answers about Chicago.”

Kate lived for the day when she would be good enough at the techniques Neal was trying to teach her that she could con somebody like Eliot Spencer. Now – even though Eliot’s expression was kind, Kate knew instantly that her reaction had betrayed her. “You should have told him yourself,” Spencer said.

She’d been involved with another man when she met Neal, someone hand-picked for her by Damien just like her job with Vincent Adler had been. _Just like you were once upon a time,_ she thought, still forcing herself to meet Eliot’s gaze. She’d broken up with Michael when she’d fallen in love with Neal. _If he knows about the break-up…_

“You need to be honest with him,” Eliot went on, almost as if he could read her thoughts. “You’re a terrible liar Kate, and it’s just going to make things worse if you try.”

He knew. Her brother knew about Neal – Kate didn’t know how she knew, but looking at Eliot she was as sure about her conclusion as anything she’d ever known. “What’s he going to do?” she asked quietly, praying Eliot would understand that there was more to her question than the words she’d said.

His expression softened. “Damien has…indicated…that I might need to pay Caffrey a visit.” Kate felt her eyes welling with tears, hearing her worst nightmare given voice. “He’s concerned about you associating with a petty thief and con artist.”

“Neal’s not…” she protested, then stopped. There was no use arguing her case to Eliot except as a warm-up to the fight she was going to have to have with her brother. The man was Damien’s right hand in every way that mattered, and he was only dispatched to deliver a very specific message about the dangers of crossing the Moreau family and name.

Spencer slid a hand over hers, squeezing reassuringly. “Be honest with him, Kate. It’s the only way you’re going to change his mind.”

 _The only chance I have to keep Neal alive,_ Kate finished in her head. Giving Eliot’s hand an answering squeeze, she settled back in her seat for the rest of the trip.


End file.
